Santa Fe, Sonata drive Hyundai in the US

Hyundai's tailor-made for US Sonata and the clean Santa Fe notch up sales in US.

BY A CORRESPONDENTJanuary 5, 2006

Sales successes of the two beauties that rolled out of the Hyundai plant at Montgomery have taken the Korean auto giant to new heights. With this Hyundai Motor Co expects global revenue to increase 13.5 percent this year. The models that have helped the car maker are the Sonata, and the sports utility vehicle christened Santa Fe.

According to sources, the Montgomery plant churns out more than 20,000 vehicles a month. According to the company, the two products have turned to be very important to Hyundai’s plans in the US. The auto major is now looking forward to increased sales for both the Hyundai Santa Fe and Sonata in 2007 too.

It may be pointed out here that Elantra had been in the forefront of Hyundai's sales boom worldwide. The other models like Sonata, Tucson and Verna gave Elantra the added support.

With the American market place being dubbed as the most important growth area for Hyundai, the vehicles produced in Montgomery are sure to be given the additional push. The Montgomery plant began production in 2005. After a year of increasing its efficiencies, the plant is consistently producing more than 20,000 cars a month. The plant's production had exceeded 220,000 cars by November, said company figures.

Santa Fe had debuted only last Spring, and sales have been on the increase since then.